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Atomic energy firm fined for leaking radioactive lorry

20/02/2006

A leading atomic energy firm has today been fined £250,000 plus costs for allowing one of its lorries to emit deadly radioactive gamma rays during a 130-mile journey across northern England.

AEA Technology was handed the fine and ordered to pay costs totalling £151,000 at a hearing at Leeds crown court this morning after being found guilty of a serious breach of health and safety regulations.

The firm used a radioactive-proof container to transport decommissioned cancer treating equipment from Cookridge hospital in Leeds to the Sellafield nuclear facility in Cumbria for disposal in March 2002.

However, the plug sealing the container was left off, enabling the radioactive beam to leak out.

Mark Harris of the Health and Safety Executive, which brought the case against AEA, suggested it was "pure good fortune" that no-one had been contaminated.

“Through pure good fortune no-one involved in the removal, containment and transfer of the source may have been directly exposed to the radiation beam," Mr Harris said.

“The risk of such exposure was undoubtedly present - at Cookridge, during the journey and at Windscale [a facility at Sellafield]. We say the incident was serious.

“It exposed employees of the company and their sub-contractors to unnecessary and potentially high radiation risks due to poor radiation protection practices.”

Scientific evidence delivered during the trial suggested that anybody within 330 yards and directly in contact with the beam would have been subject to radiation levels so severe that they would almost certainly have died within two hours.

The court heard how tragedy was only averted because the focus of the beam was facing downwards towards the road, rather than outwards towards other drivers and members of the public.

Judge Norman Jones QC suggested that the attitude of some AEA employees had been "cavalier", adding that the extremely high risk of potential exposure resulting from the mistake was the reason for the large fine.

"We have to remember here we're dealing with the movement in public areas and, long distance movement, with very, very dangerous materials and therefore the greatest of care is demanded of those engaged in that movement," he said.

AEA, a private spin-off from the state-owned United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority, accepted responsibility for the breach, but insisted that steps had been taken to ensure that a similar incident would not occur in the future.

"Lessons were learnt from this and steps taken to replace or retrain the management and staff and to introduce improved procedures to ensure this sort of incident could not happen again," a company statement said.

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